Which to use
“indicated” and “indicates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,023
- “indicated” frequency rank
- #4,766
- “indicates” frequency rank
- 8789
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indicated | indicates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of indicate | third-person singular simple present indicative of indicate |
Where the eye mixes indicated and indicates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between indicated and indicates
A purely visual mix-up. indicated (/ˈɪndɪkeɪtɪd/) and indicates (/ˈɪndɪkeɪts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “indicated” becomes s in “indicates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
indicated is recorded at frequency rank #4,023, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɪndɪkeɪtɪd/. indicates is at rank #4,766, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɪndɪkeɪts/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 8789, this pair ranks #500,700 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of indicated vs indicates
Shared letters: acdeint. Private to "indicated": -. Private to "indicates": s.
"indicated" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC · "indicates" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "indicated" and "indicates" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "indicated" or "indicates"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "indicated" and "indicates" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "indicated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indicates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #500,700 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indicated" and "indicates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indicates vs indices". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #500,700 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.